Death to Diets...once and for all!

You are Standing in line at the grocery check out.  

You have been having cravings for a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios...and as you wait, you glance to the left and see the magazines..."Lose 10 pounds in 5 days!"  one headline reads, right below it you see "Lose 4 sizes by Thanksgiving" and next to that?  "Flatten your abs in just 5 minutes a day!"

It is everywhere you turn!  You look at your stomach, reach for the magazine...and remember....after the last diet you tried, you gained back all the weight you lost, plus an extra 10 pounds...maybe this isn't the answer.  

As you pause you think about how going on a diet makes you feel...and the list starts...

 

YOU...

1. Feel Deprived
2. Feel Punished-Like you are not good enough  
3. Feel Weak, Tired, Lethargic
4. Are Overly Emotional 
5. Are Short Tempered
6. Feel Depressed
7. Look more critically at yourself in the mirror (increased body checking)
8. Are obsessive about exercise and calorie intake
9. Withdraw from hanging out, talking or just being with friends
10. Get Stressed out over being with family
11. Isolate and withdraw

Do you realize you are not alone?  95% of dieters regain the weight anyway…  Time and time again.  I have myself....more times than fingers on my hands can count.  It is exhausting...

THIS time, as you reach for the magazine and the urge comes to go on a diet…

you pause and think: 

What if I decided NEVER TO GO ON A DIET AGAIN? 

What would that look like? Feel like?  

Take a look and I will share with you my list...

You Will.... 

1. Feel Empowered!!!
2. Move and exercise how and when  you want
3. Have all the energy you need to do whatever you want to do 
4. Allow you to enjoy all foods with friends, family or alone
5. Not have to rely on comments from others
6. Understand and Empathize with the struggles of others
7. Release your own expectations of “fitting into the thin ideal”
8. Be free from mirrors, scales, calories
9. Feel free to where clothes that are comfortable 
10. Gain Confidence in yourself
11. Not stress over going to the beach, getting photographed or trying on clothes

As for me, I want to enjoy a glass of wine, an ice cream cone, and chocolate chip cookies...I want to move my body on my terms, respect and honor myself.  

YOU ARE WORTH IT.    

You deserve to feel empowered and strong and follow your own rules, your own standards and be OK with all of them…

The choice is up to you. 

Click here for more information and grab your free YOU ARE ENOUGH Finally Free Fit and Fabulous 5 step guide to peace with food, eating, weight and body image. 

You are worth it. 

It's Just Food!

As many of you know, I have spent over 30 years struggling with food, weight, eating, exercise, body image and self esteem.   A few years ago, I'd had ENOUGH....and began a journey to freedom, peace and joy.  

I have since been working as a Lifestyle Strategist, with many women who have struggled as well.  

I have decided to share the 5 step formula that saved my life (from a life full of the continued shackles of dieting and the thin ideal) 

If you are interested in hearing about the webinar...read on...if not, a new blog will be us soon :) 

The low cost on-line webinar is Wed night August 15th (starts at 7PM, last approx. 1 hour including questions and answers)  AND it will be recorded. (in case you can't make the time)

You can click here to register.

The webinar is something I've put together to educate, support and empower women like you to have a better and brighter healthier future.  If you are ready to transform your relationship with food, eating, weight, mind, body and self this webinar is for you. 

During the webinar, I will be sharing a proven life-changing 5-step formula on how to be Finally, Free, Fit & Fabulous Once and For All. 

Based on my own personal experience (yes, I understand completely), my 30+ years of experience in the health, fitness and eating disorder fields, education and specialized training I wanted to give overwhelmed women a different way of looking at and addressing their relationships and behaviors around their weight, food and body image... thus I created a simple 5-step formula. 

It is my mission to share this formula with women of all sizes, shapes and weights to help them gain the confidence and courage to  LOVE WHAT IS, LIVE WITH JOY and CONNECT MORE DEEPLY WITH THEMSELVES AND OTHERS.

Once you know the formula you are able to: 

• Feel like food is your friend and not your enemy.
• Enjoy and eat food with more pleasure.
• Tune into your hunger and fullness cues (become an Intuitive Eater).
• Start to make peace with your body.
• Quiet your self-sabotaging negative inner voice and replace it with a life-changing positive self-talk simply by listening.
• Ditch the food rules and fire the food police.
• Know how to avoid fad diets and the conflicting and confusing nutrition advice
• Get off and stay off the failed Dieting Hamster Wheel/Roll Coaster once and for all.
• Gain mental clarity, confidence and courage to live to be the best version of YOU.
• Work towards and achieve your health, fitness and wellness goals even when life gets busy, hectic, is stress-filled and overwhelming. 
• Move, play and exercise with more joy
• Use easy, time efficient Self-care methods/strategies to lower stress (one of the keys to releasing fat and weight)

So, that's what the webinar is about.  A simple 5-step success formula for improving your health/well-being, living authentically and how to become the best version of you.

You'll have a chance to join me, my team and super like-minded women as we discover how to get unstuck or overcome the challenges that have been holding us back plus, you will get a roadmap (a proven simple 5-steps) to achieve your health, fitness and wellness goals and dreams. 

I'll share... 

... How to use a revolutionary mindfulness-based approach (Intuitive Eating) to nourish your body, mind and soul. 

... How to use cutting-edge 21st century technology and tools to make the change process easier, faster and sustainable so goal achievement can be obtained regardless of your everyday life situation.

... How to reduce stress and why Hoping on the Dieting Bandwagon not only doesn't work BUT causes even more stress on the body leading to an increase in the fat storage hormone cortisol. 

... How to use our practical, time-tested and client approved  2x2x2 Movement Formula to get you out of pain, keep you out of pain and release more fat while having more fun. 

... How to appreciate, honor, respect and accept your "here and now" body

The cost is $49, however through Monday August 13th I'm offering a special priced ticket for only $15 which includes an informative, beneficial 4-part education guide called Calorie Counting DEBUNKED Infographic Bundle, a $59 value).

Just click here to enroll (you will find payment information there)

3 Secrets to a PAIN FREE body!

By Tim Drown and Annie Poirier

Did you know what most women do to alleviate pain (rest, take medicine, ice, heat or do specific exercises prescribed by a doctor or physical therapist at the specific joint where the pain is felt) doesn’t work- it does not solve the root of the problem it only treats the symptoms for a short while.

What Does Work:

Secret #1: Improve your FASCIA Health by Foam Rolling
Fascia is a tough cobweb-like sheath that envelops the muscles, nerves and bones. It protects organs and joints from head to toe and acts as a shock absorber.
The fascia becomes tight, knotted and constricted from trauma, injuries, accidents, the same repetitive motions, poor posture, neuromuscular weakness and the aging process.
When the fascia constricts, shrinks or gets tight it gets inflamed and creates pressure on the tissue surrounding it causing an increase in pain and inhibits mobility and flexibility. The fascia is also rich in nerve cells, so you will feel the pain.


Secret #2 – Ensure that the joints along your Kinetic Chain Function Correctly/Optimally.
Did you realize the nagging pain in your knee might be caused by tight muscles in your hips? Ifyou only do movements to strengthen muscles around the knee you won’t resolve the kneepain. You might be wondering why this is – our entire body is related (connect by something called a kinetic chain) and compensates for imbalances, pain or injury in order to protect itself. Simply put, every body part is linked and dependent on every other body part through a system called the kinetic chain.
The kinetic chain is the system that promotes and manages movement -from the feet tofingertips and the muscles, fascia (that’s that word again), and other connective tissue tie it all together. If one area of the chain is weak, another part must compensate and the next link in the chain will suffer.

For the chain to functional optimally it must have both stabile and mobile components with one part of the chain stabile and then the next mobile all the way up to the shoulders/neck.
If one component along the chain is broken, deficient or not working properly your body will compensate and you will FEEL PAIN/ACHES.


Secret #3 – While every joint is important along the chain the HIPS maybe most important –Implement a Movement Prep and Prehab Routine.
Todd Durkin, a fitness pro who trains professional athletes as well as every day Joes and Janessays, “If your hips are tight and don’t or can’t function correctly (properly), you are on the road to pain, injury and even disability.”
The key to improving HIP rotation function is to improve both Hip mobility and stability. I will go into more detail later on when I talk about HRD (Hip Rotational Deficit)
So, the 3 Secrets to Pain-Free Living is: to Improve your Fascia Health, Make Sure Your Joints Along the Kinetic Chain are Functioning Correctly and Make Time to Improve Hip Mobility Function.
Now that you know the 3 secrets to Pain-Free living let take a look at the top 6 causes that women suffer from chronic daily plain. (From Todd Durkin)

1. Elevated, too much Stress
2. Too much Sitting
3. HRD (Hip Rotational Deficit) /Poor Hip & Pelvis Functioning
4. Poorly Designed Exercise Programs
5. Not enough focus on doing Movement Prep or Prehab
6. Poor or inadequate Recovery & Regeneration Strategies

Having too much stress (distress) leads to fat storage and body changes, bio markers are impacted negatively, leading to shallow breathing and hinders quality sleep.
Simply put distress leads to dis-ease. When you live in excessive distress, you feel anxiety, worry, anger, frustration, irritability and have high levels of cortisol (the fat storage hormone). Stress impacts sleep quality, causes blood pressure to spike and breathing becomes shallow, causing muscles from your neck down through your back to tense up and tighten It then wreaks havoc on your entire body.
Solution: Listen to Yoga Nidra Guided Meditations, learn how to improve your breathing drink more water and tea get out into nature, move-play-exercise joyfully

Too much Sitting which causes our glutes to bear the brunt of the weight and our chest muscles to tighten and pull the shoulders forward. We wind up hunched forward putting pressure on the back and neck. We all sit too much (in front of computers, in meetings, at lunch, on the coach at night watching tv, etc....) Sitting for hours develops poor posture which alters the body’sfascia and causes perpetual pain.
Solution: Play, Move & Exercise Joyfully. Implement our 2x2x2 Movement Formula (Do 2 days of walking, 2 days of PlayFit, and 2 days FitMoves. Foam Roll do Movement Prep and Prehab Activities on a consistent basis.


Hip Rotational Deficit (HRD) Having limited ability at the hip complex (glutes, piriformis, psoas, and adductor muscles) impacts how the pelvis functions (it flexes and rotates the trunk and stabilizes the back). It locks the hip down and prevents the proper amount of rotation needed to move effectively.
All these muscles are connected by fascia. The renowned movement expert Moshe Feldenkraissaid, “You go as your pelvis goes” When your pelvis is off level, out of balance, tilted forward orback it causes muscles to function poorly and the body moves inefficiently. This compensatory causes multiple joints along the chain be impacted, leading to pain.
Solution: Use Movement Prep, Prehab and Foam Rolling to improve mobility and flexibility of the muscles that surround the pelvis and hips in order to keep the body pain-free performing well and feeling great.


Poorly Designed Exercise Programs found on the internet or old outdated training methods and exercises lead to joint injuries, muscle strains and chronic tendonitis and over-training. In addition, most traditional programs use machines that isolate muscles and are linear based (that is they train the body in one plane) Lifting, cycling, running and rowing are straight linedactivities and don’t reflect how the body functions and works in the real world. Lastly, certainmovements or exercises might be exacerbating the pain.
Solution: Train the core in all directions, do movement prep and prehab activities that increase flexibility in the hip and midthoracic (mid back) while strengthening low-back stability. Use training equipment like bands, dumbbells, medicine balls and kettlebells while doing more pulling exercises to overcome sitting. Since our body moves in multiple planes and dimensions, exercises and movements should also challenge you in this manner.

Not Focusing on Movement Prep or Prehab. Most women have serious flexibility and mobility issues especially in the hips, hamstring and chest. And the older we get the worse it becomes. Failure to focus on this important part of a workout/ training leads to muscle tightness, discomfort, knotted and constricted fascia, injury and pain.
Solution: Foam Roll, Implement a 5-7-minute Movement Prep routine prior to your workout, play, movement or exercise session. Do 3-5 prehab activities either at the start or end of a workout. Do some static stretching especially for the calves, hamstrings, glutes and piriformis and chest muscles.


Poor Recovery and Regeneration Strategies that lead to over-training and burn out. Not using the best practice standards with regards to nutrition and sleep. Not listening to Yoga Nidra (Stress-Less with Divine Sleep) Not using ProVantage a world class recovery beverage from Reliv to speed recovery and enhance fascia health.
Solution: Rest, Recover & Re-energize. Learn more about nutrition and change your habits with regards to food and eating. This is the #1 thing you can do, as food fuels our body and is key to our body systems functioning properly and optimally
(Enroll in our Precision Nutrition with ProCoaching Program)

• Drink ProVantage after an exercise, play or movement session
• Listen to Stress-Less with Divine Sleep (Yoga Nidra), reduce stress
• Listen to Positive Self-talk (change your mood, mindset and emotional state)
• Implement a Self-Care Practice daily
• Utilize our 2x2x2 Movement Formula (walk 2 days a week, complete FitMoves 2 days a week and do
  2 days of PlayFit)
• Active Rest – foam roll, contrast showers, massage, Rolfing, take a music bath
• Order our “Kitchen Rescue Pak” – Make meal planning and preparation easy
• Journal
• Enroll in Annie’s On-line Drumming Fitness Class
• Create a victory and gratitude practice and list
• Laugh
• Get outside in nature
• Get and Give Hugs, Hold Hands
• Do something with a friend, family member, etc.
• Find a spiritual practice
• Volunteer for something that gives you energy back
• ADD YOURS HERE
  Sources & Reference(s):
  “The Impact Plan” by Todd Durkin M.S., CSCS
  Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist & Personal Trainer Tim Drown M.S., CSCS. NSCS-CPT, CPNC, CLC, CSTT“The Art and Science of Functional Sports Conditioning” by Vern Gambetta

Click here for more information and grab your free YOU ARE ENOUGH Finally Free Fit and Fabulous 5 step guide to peace with food, eating, weight and body image. 

You are worth it.